The company’s first Connect as a standalone business, the four-day affair was packed with user sessions for all of its products, as well as demos for the press, and a busy show floor where customers were able to meet and do business with ePS’ large roster of partner companies.

A raft of product developments and upcoming releases – including the upcoming Q2 release of Midmarket Print Suite 11 – were discussed over the course of the event.

One of the biggest evolutions is the ongoing move to browser-based interfaces that will be rolled out across ePS’ whole product portfolio from now through to the end of 2024.

“Nobody wants a Windows-based desktop application anymore, and ultimately the goal is to move all of our apps to browser-based and ultimately cloud hostable,” Nick Benkovich, VP, global portfolio product management at eProductivity Software, told Printweek.

“What we found during Covid is that people couldn’t go to the office, and if we give them the tools, they don’t need to go to the office. We’ve got a highly mobile workforce and now what we’re seeing is that companies are now offering working from home as a perk, so we need to enable that with tools. Anywhere, anytime on any device is where we need to be.

As well as the company’s cloud focus, there was also much talk of the “modernisation” of the Monarch MIS/ERP system, while iQuote demos highlighted the software’s enhanced e-commerce quoting ability.

This function will help users, even those with limited print production and process knowledge, to quickly locate the best possible production method for each job using the print and finishing kit that they have access to, as well as hypothetically via other machines.

ePS said a new module in Monarch, Material Director, “is a play on a wireless warehouse tool” that gets the necessary information to tell warehouse directors what to do to enable quick warehouse picking and tracking and save the need to carry out a number of manual processes that would have previously been required, potentially cutting the time of such a task from 45 minutes to 30 seconds.

The capabilities of the new PrintFlow 4D scheduling system, that can schedule equipment, the people required to run it, and the tools that need to be used, were also highlighted.

“We know that the average commercial printer does 40% more jobs than they did just eight years ago to generate the same revenue. That’s insane and means there are all sorts of challenges with scheduling them,” Benkovich said.

Aside from product news, one of the event’s major highlights was the inaugural women's networking lunch, which saw a panel of female industry leaders share their stories and talk about their own paths into the sector.

A subsequent breakout session that asked each table of guests to come up with ideas of how to help women and young people into the sector resulted in an array of good ideas, including around mentoring and education, with several inspiring students from US universities that offer print and graphics courses – Clemson and Cal Poly – sharing their hopes and ambitions for their futures in the industry.

Also popular were several customer panel sessions that enabled ePS customers to honestly share and give feedback on their experiences with the company’s products, including their successes and challenges, as well as specialist user sessions drilling down into useful tips and tricks for each individual product, development updates, and advice on upgrading.

While the opening day featured a trio of keynote speeches, including an opening session from CEO Gaby Matsliach, the second day keynote hosted Jessica Lobo, global goals and climate programme manager at United Nations Global Compact Network, discuss how driving innovation through sustainability empowers resilience in the print and packaging industries.

Visitor feedback on the new format was positive while exhibitors were happy to have the opportunity to come to Connect for the first time, and the ability to now integrate their products with ePS platforms.

Bob Raus, category manager for workflow and partner programs at HP, told Printweek the company was “super excited to be here”, and recalled how ePS’s Benkovich contacted the business hours after the company went independent, just over a year ago, with a view to integrating products.

He said PrintOS integration with Radius has started, with beta testing beginning just before Christmas, while Pace integration is also underway and beta testing is set to commence in early March.

Raus said HP’s presence at Connect was “a great opportunity to get the message out” about the integrations, and he said visitors coming to its booth were roughly split half and half between existing customers and new prospects. He also hailed the opportunity for people to get together, network, and learn from each other.

Erik Peeters, worldwide marketing manager for software solutions at Agfa Offset, meanwhile told Printweek his Connect experience, and the ability to show “everything relating to software” had been “very good”.

“The nice thing is, the audience is software minded, so we are able to have conversations with the right people, who are interested in software and can relate to what we are trying to offer them in terms of added value solutions. It’s always interesting to be able to tell your story, what we offer, and where we differentiate.”

He said the event had been “well organised” and had attracted “a nice amount of people”.

Other partners at the event included Ricoh, Canon, EFI, ISCorp, Esko, EFI Fiery, Hybrid Software, OneVision, Picsart, Progress, Loyalty Loop, PlanProphet, Print Speak, Van Data, Flexible Packaging Association, Tag and Labels Manufacturers (TLMI), Printing United Alliance, UN Global Impact, and Print and Graphics Scholarship Foundation.